"Happy Birthday" – Art Nouveau

This week’s Sunday Postcard Art challenge was “Happy Birthday” in celebration of their one-year anniversary. I made an art nouveau theme, using several images. I had to recreate part of the banner, then I colored it. I also added some swirl designs to it, as well as the message on it. The background is a replicated flower border. When I was done, I added some lighting effects to give it texture and depth.

"Wild Animals"

This week’s Think Monday – Think ATC challenge was “Wild Animals.” This is my first entry for this challenge, and my first Artist Trading Card (ATC). I love rhinoceros, so that is the focus of my ATC. (There are two in the picture.) I used several images to create this. The images are from the New York Public Library Digital Gallery. I never made an ATC before, so I hope I did this right. The size is 3.5 x 2.5 inches, and I used 96 pixels/inch.

Sat May 30, 2009 05:30 EDT: I experimented with lighting effects and created this version, which has texture to it. I like how it turned out.

"Architecture"

This week’s Thank God It’s Friday challenge was “Architecture.” This is my first entry for this challenge. I’ve wanted to “make a book” for awhile now, and this seemed like a good opportunity to do that. Egypt was this week’s theme for the Tag It On challenge, so I used it here as well. I made up the book title, and the author’s name is a play on my initials and blog name.

"Art Creations Friday" - Challenge 28

This is my picture for the Art Creations Friday May 29, 2009 challenge (the 28th one). This is my first entry for this challenge. The challenge site provided the background image. All of the other images are from the New York Public Library Digital Gallery. The smaller circles in the background reminded me of honeycombs, so I created a “bee” theme.

"Walk Like An Egyptian"

This week’s Tag It On challenge was “Walk Like An Egyptian.” The focal point is the Goddess Bast, and I used the blue Egyptian water lily for my tag fastening point. (I’m continuing with my idea to use a flower for that part of the tag.)

I apologize for the quality of the picture of the actual tag again. I’m still a novice at taking a picture of something I made.

"Gothic Arch" – Garden Sprite (problem with uploaded image)

Since I started doing the Sunday Postcard Art challenges, when I look at everyone’s postcards, I’ve noticed some people have been doing a “Gothic Arch” challenge. Their creations looked wonderful and it looked like a really cool challenge. But I was a novice, so I didn’t venture beyond SPA. Recently, I started looking for new ones to do, to expand on my creativity. I’ve done two Tag It On challenges, and I’m thinking about doing the Art Creations Friday one. I looked into the Gothic Arch challenge, but it’s by invitation only. So, I made my own, after I saw what someone said the theme was, even though I don’t know what the rules/requirements are for making one. I’m just doing this for myself, to have fun.

First, I created a Gothic Arch template. I got the arch from Clipart ETC and modified it. Then I colored it. The end result is the template I will use every time I do a Gothic Arch challenge, but I don’t know how often that will be.

Technical notes to myself: Something is very wrong with the image uploaded to my blog. The arch (background) is very blurry, but it doesn't look that way on my computer. And I see the pixel "ghost" problem on the blog, but that isn't in my image. Awwrrrr!!! I might have to yank this post. The picture looks awful! :-(

Tue May 26, 2009 19:25: I had to compromise and change the arch color to green. After spending a lot of time on this, and even adding lines for the stone blocks, I still had a problem with blue colors appearing blurry when I uploaded the image. TODO: I need to revisit this problem, to determine what it is.

"Numbers" – Math and Science

This week’s Sunday Postcard Art challenge was “Numbers.” My postcard is a math and science theme. I colored the picture of the man, Humphry Davy. The quote is from Avogadro constant.

I also decided to make a “Number People” postcard (see below), to get more practice using GIMP.